Rep. Ro Khanna on Sunday laid out his case against a sweeping ban on social media platform TikTok after opposing legislation that was overwhelmingly passed by the House of Representatives last week, while two senators expressed openness to the bill.

“What is the actual evidence that you can’t pass a data privacy law or a law that prohibits sending data abroad and get it done that way?” Mr. Khanna, a progressive Democrat from California, said on ABC’s “This Week.” “The frustration is that we have not been able to pass these data privacy laws. These laws would also cover data brokers who sell data to Chinese companies. This bill doesn’t really solve that problem.”

Fifty Democrats – mostly from the party’s progressive wing – voted against the House bill because they were concerned about violating America’s right to free speech and harming small business owners whose marketing and sales depend on TikTok. The bill passed the House on Wednesday, 352 to 65.

The legislation requires TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, to sell its U.S. assets within six months of the bill being signed into law or face an outright ban in the United States. Supporters of the measure worry that the Chinese government will gain access to the data of about 150 million US residents who use the video app and that it will influence public debate in America by tweaking the app’s algorithms to its advantage to fit.

While acknowledging the concerns of TikTok’s critics, Mr. Khanna said on Sunday that the Chinese government’s security threats could be more effectively addressed with “a tailor-made law” that would ban any transfer of Americans’ private data to China and other foreign entities. .

The United States has no federal data privacy law that restricts the sale of personal information, potentially allowing foreign entities to purchase the private information of millions of Americans. Mr. Khanna, whose congressional district includes Silicon Valley, has promised that years will pass a new law that places limits on tech companies’ ability to collect and profit from their users’ data.

While expressing sympathy for calls to ban TikTok, two of Mr. Khanna’s colleagues in the Senate — a Democrat and a Republican — failed to express full support for the House bill on Sunday.

Senator Ben Cardin, Democrat of Maryland and chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that he was open to supporting the House bill but had not yet made a final decision.

“We’ll see how the Senate wants to take this up,” Mr. Cardin said. “But I would like us to reach the finish line and provide the necessary guardrails.”

Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, partly echoed Mr. Cardin’s sentiments while emphasizing the need for swift action against TikTok.

“I would like to see the final language, but I’m certainly inclined to vote for it,” Mr. Cassidy said. “Anyone who doesn’t think the Chinese Communist Party wants to influence how we think in our country simply doesn’t understand what they are doing.”

A group of Democratic senators on Monday urged President Biden to stop supplying Israel with offensive weapons for the war against Hamas until Israel lifts restrictions on US-backed humanitarian aid to Gaza.

In a letter to Mr. Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent of Vermont, and seven Democrats argued that by continuing to arm Israel, Mr. Biden was violating the Foreign Assistance Act, which prohibits military aid from going to any country that supplies limited from it. of humanitarian aid.

It was the latest bid by members of his own party to intensify pressure on Biden to use his power to demand that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu change his tactics and ease the suffering of Palestinians as the Gaza offensive enters its fifth month .

“We urge you to make it clear to the Netanyahu government that failure to immediately and dramatically expand humanitarian access and facilitate safe aid deliveries across Gaza will lead to serious consequences, as specified in existing US law.” , the group wrote.

Mr Sanders said it was clear that Mr Netanyahu’s actions violated the conditions for US military aid set out in the Humanitarian Aid Corridor Act, which is part of the foreign aid law. The law says that once the president is notified that a country is blocking or restricting the delivery of U.S. humanitarian aid, U.S. military assistance cannot be provided.

“That is exactly what Israel does; they are preventing American humanitarian aid from reaching the people of Gaza,” Sanders said in an interview. “They are against the law and therefore the financial assistance should be suspended.”

The move is the latest initiative by Democrats in Congress to signal their dissatisfaction with Netanyahu’s behavior and rely on Biden to use his power to try to change Israel’s tactics as civilian deaths mount and reports about famine increasing. The letter, written by Senators Chris Van Hollen of Maryland and Jeff Merkley of Oregon, is signed by some of the Democratic Party’s most progressive members: Senators Mazie K. Hirono of Hawaii, Peter Welch of Vermont and Tina Smith of Minnesota.

“I hope the president understands that a growing number of members of Congress, and the American people in general, are tired of seeing the destruction of the people of Gaza and the onset of mass famine,” Sanders said.

But so far, Congress has not shown the ability to use its own power to try to change Israel’s behavior. Supporters of limiting military aid or making it conditional on a change in behavior by Mr. Netanyahu do not have the votes to secure passage of such measures in the House of Representatives or the Senate. That has given them a chance to express their fears about the progress of Israel’s offensive and the suffering it has caused in Gaza through a series of strongly worded letters that have elicited little action from Mr. Biden.

Last month, the Senate passed an emergency national security relief bill that would send another $14.1 billion in military aid to Israel, including $10 billion for offensive weapons for the war against Hamas.

The letter makes a distinction between defensive aid to Israel, such as the Iron Dome, and military aid that would serve to further the Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip.

“Israel has the right to defend itself,” Mr. Sanders said, “but Israel in no way has the right to wage war against the entire Palestinian people.”

For months, the United Nations and aid agencies in the region have accused Israel of either failing to provide safe passage for aid deliveries or preventing vehicles from passing through checkpoints and stopping aid supplies along the border.

Mr. Biden has not directly blamed Mr. Biden for the halt in humanitarian aid and has continued to provide unequivocal support for Israel’s military operation.

But because the United States sees itself as both the source of offensive weapons and the provider of aid to those affected by the attacks with those weapons, Mr. Biden has had to figure out ways to get around the obstacles that prevent aid from reaching countries . Palestinian people.

This month, Mr. Biden authorized an airdrop of 38,000 ready-to-eat meals in Gaza, and last week he announced that the U.S. military would build a temporary pier to create a new entry point for aid in the region.

The actions, the senators said, are a tacit admission by the White House that Israel is standing in the way of desperately needed food and supplies reaching starving Palestinians.

“People are dying of hunger now, and we must use all our power,” Mr. Van Hollen said. “The government has not used the influence it currently has. I don’t know how many more children have to starve before we can use all our influence here, but they really need to do more.”

When Republicans won the majority in the House of Representatives, some of their most conservative members vowed to use their power to cut the budgets of the federal agencies they claimed were weaponized against them—chief among them the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

So when Speaker Mike Johnson unveiled the package of six government spending bills he negotiated with Democrats and that is on track to clean out Congress on Friday, he touted the “deep cuts” — 6 percent — that Republicans are making. had secured the agency’s budget.

But the story of the FBI cuts is less about how Republicans in the House of Representatives used their slim majority to destroy the budget of an agency they claim has gone rogue. Instead, it’s a remarkable story of how a single powerful senator used budgetary tricks to direct hundreds of millions of dollars to a single project in his state, only to watch members of his own party cut the money after his retirement.

Of the $654 million that lawmakers agreed to cut from the FBI’s operating budget this year, $622 million came from eliminating what was essentially an old goal: money to build the agency’s campus in Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. years ago by Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the legendary pork barrel veteran who retired in 2022 at the age of 88.

The actual reduction in the FBI’s operating budget—primarily for personnel and operations—was roughly $32 million, or 0.3 percent.

Ultraconservative Republicans like Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who voted against the spending package this week and derided it as full of budgetary tricks, pointed to the cancellation of Mr. Shelby’s pet project as a prime example of how little his party could actually have done. economize. .

Grumbling about the cuts to the FBI this week in the House of Representatives, Mr. Roy said, “What they don’t want to tell you is that 95 percent of those cuts eliminate an earmark from Richard Shelby, because Richard Shelby is no longer here to defend the government. his favorite project in Alabama.”

For years, Mr. Shelby used his position on the Appropriations Committee to single-handedly transform the landscape of his home state, directing billions of federal dollars to create and expand university buildings and research programs, airports and seaports, and military and space facilities.

One of his most prioritized projects was the two FBI campuses at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, which he led over the course of ten years more than 3 billion dollars to build up the 1,100 hectares of land the agency has secured there for cyber threat intelligence and training facilities.

The FBI said to expect more than 4,000 jobs to come to Huntsville over the next eight to 10 years.

Normally, such pet projects are funded through earmarks — a practice that allows lawmakers to direct federal funds for specific projects to their states and districts. These projects are listed in a separate list, which clearly indicates how much federal money goes to a specific project, and which legislator requested it.

Instead, Mr. Shelby included the money for the campus in the text of the spending bill, in an apparent effort to ensure that it would be available even after he left Congress. For years, the Biden administration has requested about $61 million for the FBI’s construction budget. Instead, at the senator’s insistence, Congress gave them $632 million one year, and $652 million the next.

In each case, the laws specified that the additional funding was to be used to address the FBI’s “highest priorities outside the immediate National Capital Region,” meaning Washington, DC.

Although this was not stated in the legislation, it was clear that this meant only one place: Huntsville, Ala.

“Increasing the FBI’s presence in Huntsville has been a priority of mine for some time,” Mr. Shelby said in a 2022 announcement touting the additional funding. “And I am proud to have helped make this happen.”

The chairmen of five key Senate committees on Thursday warned the directors of major convenience stores and wholesalers to stop the sale of illegal flavored vaping products, which they called “widespread violations of federal law.”

The senators expressed their concerns in letters to the companies, adding to frustration among some lawmakers in Congress over the continued availability of e-cigarettes in vibrant colors and candy flavors that attract young people who could become addicted to nicotine. The uncontrolled sales, they wrote, “pose an enormous threat to public health.”

“The FDA and industry must do more to address the youth vaping epidemic and immediately remove unauthorized vaping products from their shelves,” said Senator Dick Durbin of Illinois, the Democratic whip.

The letters were addressed to retailers including 7-Eleven, Circle K, bp America, Pilot, Kwik Trip and others. The Food and Drug Administration had previously warned against the sale of unauthorized brands such as Elf Bar, EB Design and Funky Republic.

The senators’ letters reminded the companies that Congress gave the FDA authority over tobacco products in a landmark 2009 law. Selling unapproved items could result in fines or an order to stop selling tobacco products, the letter said.

“Today, millions of children use unauthorized e-cigarettes, putting them at risk of nicotine addiction, respiratory disease, worsening depression and anxiety, and many other harmful consequences,” read the letter to 7-Eleven CEO Joseph DePinto. The company did not respond to a request for comment.

To date, the FDA has approved 23 vaping products and millions of applications rejected. It has enabled the sale of a number of vapes that are still under review, including some from Juul and Vuse.

Some gas station retailers, represented by the Energy Marketers of America, have found the situation so murky that they formally requested the FDA to clarify which e-cigarettes they can sell.

“We have asked the FDA numerous times for complete information about what can and cannot be sold in stores, but they have refused to provide it,” Jeff Lenard, a spokesman for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in an email . “It is long past time for the FDA to provide that clarity and aggressively enforce the law.”

Public health experts have repeatedly called for the FDA to complete its review of e-cigarette sales applications and clear the market of illegal vapes. The agency has said it will complete the review by June 30. So far it has only allowed tobacco-flavored e-cigarettes and recently rejected several menthol varieties.

A study released last summer suggested that limiting the use of flavored vapes could have an effect: About 40 percent of adolescents said they would quit e-cigarettes if only tobacco and menthol were available, and 70 percent would quit if only vapes were available would be marketed with tobacco flavour.

“What that says is that young people in this context are saying, ‘If tobacco was the only flavor, I don’t know if I would continue using this product,’” says Alayna Tackett, an assistant professor at the Center for Tobacco. Research at Ohio State University. She noted that the predicted behavior may not reflect what young people actually do.

Vaping levels among teens have dropped dramatically since popularity surged in 2019, when about 28 percent of high school students reported using e-cigarettes in the past month. That level dropped to about 10 percent in a similar study last year.

Advocates of e-cigarettes for adult use cite these statistics as evidence that the teen crisis has subsided, and they say the FDA should keep flavors available for those trying to quit traditional cigarettes.

Concerns about the use of e-cigarettes are increasing worldwide. In January, Britain announced it would ban disposable, flavored e-cigarettes after a survey found that one in five young people aged 11 to 17 reported vaping in the past year.

In December, the World Health Organization called for “urgent action” to protect children of e-cigarettes and said many countries had no age limit on the products. E-cigarettes are highly addictive, the report said, and “generate toxins, some known to cause cancer and others to increase the risk of heart and lung disease.”

Recent studies show the value of e-cigarettes for smokers looking to quit – in addition to the risks for those who continue to smoke and vape. One study released January showed that almost 16 percent of smokers who switched to e-cigarettes were still smoke-free six months later. That rate was comparable to those who took the smoking cessation drug Chantix, and better than those who used nicotine gum.

Another study published last month found that so-called dual users of cigarettes and vaping were at greater risk of cardiovascular disease, stroke and asthma.

“E-cigarettes are as bad as a cigarette for some diseases,” said Stanton Glantz, lead author of the study. “For others, they’re a little better. But they are not much better and double use is always worse.”

In addition to Mr. Durbin, the other senators who signed the letter were Ron Wyden, a Democrat from Oregon; Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont; Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio; and Richard Blumenthal, a Democrat from Connecticut.

More than a dozen people were arrested Thursday evening during a peaceful pro-Palestinian protest at a Manhattan building where Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, Democrats of New York, have offices.

The protesters wore black T-shirts that read “Cease Fire Now” and held up signs demanding that senators “stop funding genocide.” slogans and ignoring instructions to leave until police officers arrested them.

The demonstration, organized by a local chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace, a progressive activist group, was the latest in what have become almost daily protests across New York City since Hamas attacked Israel on October 7. At least 1,200 Israelis were killed in those attacks. according to Israeli officials; Israel’s subsequent military operation in Gaza killed 29,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health officials. The rising death toll and humanitarian crisis in Gaza have led to international calls for a ceasefire.

Around 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, several hundred demonstrators had gathered at Dag Hammarskjöld Plaza, in front of the United Nations headquarters, where the United States this week cast the lone vote against a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza Strip . . It was the third time the Biden administration blocked similar resolutions, signaling its continued support for Israel.

Accompanied by a heavy police presence, demonstrators marched through a light rain Thursday to the headquarters of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a powerful lobbying group founded decades ago to advance Israel’s interests in the United States.

Organizers blamed AIPAC-backed senators for passing an aid package this month that included $14.1 billion for Israel’s war against Hamas. The bill still has to pass the House of Representatives, where its fate is uncertain.

Elena Klein, director of organizational strategy at Jewish Voice for Peace New York City, said Thursday’s demonstration was a “moral imperative” and a way to get the attention of lawmakers.

“People have done everything they can think of to convince the US government to end its complicity in Israel’s genocide against the Palestinians, from the train stations to the bridges and the halls of Congress,” she said, referring to previous demonstrations. and yet they will not listen.”

Some protesters played musical instruments, while others carried large cardboard letters spelling “Dump AIPAC” and signs with the names of elected New York officials and dollar figures representing the donations they had reportedly accepted from the group.

As demonstrators chanted from behind metal barriers on Third Avenue, State Assemblyman Zohran Kwame Mamdani, a Democrat from Queens, gave an impassioned speech encouraging the crowd to continue pushing for a ceasefire. About two dozen counter-protesters, some draped in Israeli flags, gathered across the street and chanted “no ceasefire.”

Carolina Cositore, 81, said she was at the demonstration because “I am American and Jewish.” Referring to AIPAC, she said, “They are buying our Congressmen to support Israel.”

She added that the bombing of Gaza had “gone from simply terrible to monstrous.”

Separately, a group of protesters gathered for the sit-in at 780 Third Avenue, where they were arrested around 5:30 p.m., to cheers from the crowd of protesters who had joined them after the stop at AIPAC headquarters.

Louisa Solomon, 42, a rabbinical student, said it was the job of Jewish leaders to “represent our tradition.”

“I was raised to feel deep, deep, deep in my core that when genocide happened, it was my job to stand up and fight,” she said, adding, “For many of us, it is the logical expression of Jewish values. to stand in solidarity with Palestine and to stand up to our elected officials who allow genocide.”

Ms. Solomon and May Ye, a 29-year-old rabbi from New Haven, Conn., were among those arrested Thursday.

In recent months, demonstrators in New York, many expressing support for civilians in Gaza, have gathered regularly, sometimes blocking bridges and roads as they call for an end to the conflict. In late December, Mayor Eric Adams said the New York Police Department had monitored more than 400 protests since October.

Pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests have also raised tensions on college campuses as fears of anti-Semitic and Islamophobic prejudice have escalated in the city. According to police data, reported anti-Semitic hate crimes were up 82 percent in January compared to the same month last year.

While people have taken to the streets in the United States, the conflict in Gaza continues and the death toll has risen. Many of the dead are children and women, and humanitarian groups have warned of increasingly dire shortages of food and water. On Tuesday, the Israeli army ordered the evacuation of two neighborhoods in northern Gaza, where fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas fighters has hampered organizations’ ability to provide aid to an estimated 300,000 people.

International pressure against Israel’s military operations in the region has increased. South Africa on Tuesday called Israel’s policy towards Palestinians an “extreme form of apartheid” during a hearing before the UN’s highest court on the legality of Israel’s “occupation, settlement and annexation” of Palestinian-majority areas. South Africa is one of 50 countries expected to approach the court over the issue. On Wednesday, the United States reiterated its defense that Israel’s behavior in the West Bank and East Jerusalem was part of Israel’s need to defend itself.

In another case, which began in January, South Africa accused Israel of genocide. In a preliminary decision that month, the court ordered Israel to take proactive steps to ensure genocide did not occur, but did not go so far as to order an immediate ceasefire.

Israel has strongly rejected the charges, and to date, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has weathered the conviction with both verbal and financial support from the United States.

However, that steadfast support can show cracks. The New York Times reported Thursday that the Biden administration is circulating a draft resolution in the UN Security Council that would warn the Israeli military not to carry out a ground offensive in Rafah, near Egypt, where more than a million Palestinian refugees are sheltering, and that would be a temporary require a ceasefire as soon as practicable.

Liam Quigley reporting contributed.

Hungary, the last remnant blocking Sweden's accession to NATO, turned its nose up at the United States this weekend and refused to meet with a bipartisan delegation of senators who had come to pressure Prime Minister Viktor Orbán's government to to quickly approve the accession of the Nordic nation. in the military alliance.

The insult, which Senator Chris Murphy, Democrat of Connecticut, described on Sunday as “strange and worrying,” represented the latest attempt by Mr Orban, a staunch advocate of national sovereignty, to show that he will not submit to pressure from outside during NATO's long term. -stagnant expansion.

Despite having just 10 million inhabitants and accounting for just 1 percent of the European Union's economic output, Hungary under Mr Orban has made defying more powerful countries his guiding philosophy. “Hungary above all,” Orbán said at the end of the day on Saturday a State of the Nation address in which he said that European policies to support Ukraine had “failed spectacularly.”

Lawmakers from Orbán's ruling Fidesz party and government ministers all declined to meet with the visiting US senators, all of whom are staunch supporters of Ukraine.

“I'm disappointed to say that no one from the administration wanted to meet with us while we were here,” Senator Jeanne Shaheen, a New Hampshire Democrat and co-chair of the Senate NATO Observer Group, said at a news conference on Sunday.

Speaking a day earlier in Budapest, Hungary's capital, Mr Orbán reiterated his earlier pledge – which he has so far reneged on – to admit Sweden to the alliance as soon as possible. “We are on track to ratify Sweden's accession to NATO at the start of the spring session of Parliament,” he said.

Mr Orban, whose party has a large majority in parliament and controls when it meets and how it votes, did not give a date, but lawmakers are expected to meet again at the end of the month after a winter break. Fidesz lawmakers boycotted a session of parliament called by the opposition earlier this month to ratify Sweden's NATO membership.

After more than 18 months of foot-dragging, Hungary has come under intense pressure from the United States and other members of the 31-nation alliance to accept Sweden, whose military is much larger and more advanced than Hungary's.

In a sign of mounting frustration, the visiting senators, including North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis, said they would introduce a Senate resolution calling on Hungary to stop waiting and express concern about the democratic backsliding under Mr. Orban, who has led an increasingly authoritarian system.

Hungary then became the last obstacle to Sweden's admission The Turkish parliament has voted last month to approve his membership.

The visiting Americans expressed optimism that Orbán would soon succumb to Sweden's admission, just as he did last month, after months of opposition, in approval of an aid package from the European Union to Ukraine worth $54 billion. “We are hopeful and optimistic that this will happen on the 26th when Parliament convenes,” Ms Shaheen said

Mr. Tillis urged Hungary, which opposes sending weapons to Ukraine and has cordial relations with President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, to understand that “Putin's actions are the reason we are expanding NATO .” Every member of the alliance, he said, “must understand that the answer to Vladimir Putin's hostility must be a stronger NATO, and there is no better way to do that than by admitting Sweden.”

Hungary's inaction has caused widespread dismay, especially in Sweden, which has supplied Mr Orban's country with Swedish-made fighter jets that form the backbone of its air force. Pro-government news media in Hungary have suggested that Mr Orban was holding out to get a better deal on Swedish-made Gripen fighters. But diplomats see this as a story largely concocted to explain otherwise inexplicable delays that have seriously damaged Hungary's reputation as a reliable ally and given the country no clear benefits in return.

This month, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Benjamin L. Cardin of Maryland, called Mr. Orban “the least trustworthy member of NATO” and raised the possibility of imposing sanctions on Hungary for blocking expansion.

Hungary approved Finland's accession to NATO last March, just a few months after other countries did so, but has been standing still with Sweden since the summer of 2022. standards and teaching materials used in Swedish schools that were considered disrespectful to Hungary by Fidesz officials. The latest reason is that the Swedish Prime Minister has not yet visited Budapest to negotiate with Mr Orban.

The United States Ambassador to Hungary, David Pressman, said the senators' visit “underlines the urgency of the moment” and that he was hopeful Hungary would follow all other NATO members in accepting Sweden.

But in an interview, Mr. Pressman expressed regret that the Hungarian government, “as evidenced by the bipartisan congressional delegation here today, has chosen to engage with American officials in a way that is unique among our allies.”

An emergency spending bill to speed military aid to Ukraine and Israel faces its next critical hurdle in a rare vote on Sunday, as Republican senators continue to look for an opportunity to make politically divisive revisions to the legislation.

The $95 billion measure, which would also fund humanitarian aid to civilians in conflict zones and address threats to the Indo-Pacific region, easily passed a series of test votes last week with bipartisan support, even as Republican senators voted to destroy an earlier version. of the bill that included measures to address border security.

Some Republican senators who helped push the foreign aid bill have warned that their support for its final passage — a vote leaders hope to hold Tuesday — depends on the ability to push for changes in the House. including several related to the border. While they have acknowledged that such proposals are unlikely to garner the 60 votes needed to amend the bill, by voting they can still sway the Republican base — and former President Donald J. Trump, whose criticisms undermined the earlier version dead had written down – show. that they were trying to implement the changes.

But as of Saturday evening, party lawmakers had not yet drawn up a final list of possible revisions that Democratic leaders would accept.

“We continue to hope that our Republican colleagues can work with us to reach an agreement on a reasonable list of amendments,” said Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, adding: “We will continue to work on this. invoice until the job is completed.”

Even if leaders can reach an agreement, the Senate could remain in session for an extended period on Sunday. Although the scheduled procedural vote was scheduled to take place around 1 p.m., aides were making plans this weekend to ensure senators could watch the Super Bowl, drag extra televisions into the Capitol and order pizza in case they needed to vote . to a sudden flood of amendments.

The Republican wish list of revisions to the foreign aid bill focuses mainly on the southwest border. It includes a measure that mirrors a restrictive border enforcement bill that the House of Representatives passed last spring with only Republican votes.

Democrats have responded with their own demands for revisions, such as a proposal by Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the Senate's No. 2 Democrat, to grant lawful permanent residence to certain undocumented immigrants brought to the United States as children .

It is unlikely that such proposals will receive enough support to be included in the final bill.

Not every proposed revision concerns migration. Among the other changes Republicans have called for is a measure to cut $7.9 billion in economic aid for Ukraine from the bill, saying the United States should focus on weapons and let European countries help maintain the country's infrastructure during the war. Some Democrats have also sought votes to limit the impact of Israel's military campaign in Gaza, including a measure to ban forcible displacement of Palestinian civilians.

Senate Republicans and Democrats on Sunday confirmed a compromise plan to crack down on illegal migration across the U.S. border with Mexico and cleared a crucial hurdle to an aid package for Ukraine, but the deal faces long odds in a deeply divided Congress on both issues.

The release of the agreement, which came after more than three months of near-daily conversations between senators and Biden administration officials, was seen as an unlikely breakthrough on a policy issue that has plagued presidents of both parties and prompted decades of attempts at compromise has braved on Capitol Hill. . President Biden implored Congress to approve it late last month, promising to immediately close the border once it became law.

But Speaker Mike Johnson has declared it “dead on arrival” in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives. And because former President Donald J. Trump actively campaigned against the deal, it was not clear whether the measure could even make it out of the Democratic-led Senate, where it would need bipartisan support to move forward.

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and majority leader, has said he plans to put the border and Ukraine package to an initial vote on Wednesday, a critical test of its ability to survive.

“I know the vast majority of senators want to get this done, and it will take bipartisan cooperation to move quickly,” Schumer said in a statement Sunday. “Senators must tune out the noise of those who want this deal to fail for their own political agenda.”

The plan includes some of the most significant border security restrictions that Congress has considered in recent years, including making it more difficult to seek asylum, vastly expanding detention capacity and effectively closing the border to new arrivals if more than an average of 5,000 migrants per day attempt to cross to cross over the course of a week, or more than 8,500 attempt to cross on any given day. Encounters would have to drop to 75 percent of those thresholds for a week before those processes could restart.

But it falls short of several Republican demands, including limiting parole and related programs that allow migrants to live and work legally in the United States without a visa while they wait for a hearing on their immigration claims — sometimes for years.

These omissions have alienated right-wing Republicans, who pushed for much stricter measures, while the restrictions have enraged progressive Democrats. That could complicate the plan's path through the closely divided Senate, where it needs bipartisan support — at least 60 votes — to advance. And the compromises threaten to destroy the deal altogether in the Republican Party-led House of Representatives, where there is strong opposition to providing additional aid to Ukraine and many right-wing Republicans see the immigration restrictions as insufficiently strict.

Mr. Trump has bitterly denounced the plan, calling it a “horrendous betrayal of open-border America” and vowing to “fight it to the fullest.” At a campaign event last month in Nevada, he urged Republicans to end the measure and “blame it on me.”

With the new border measures, the price tag of the new bill is expected to be $118.3 billion — about $13 billion more than Biden initially asked for. The measure includes $60.1 billion to help Ukraine in its war with Russia, $14.1 billion in security aid for Israel, $10 billion in humanitarian aid for civilians in conflict zones including Gaza, the West Bank and Ukraine, and 20 $.2 billion in border security improvements.

The bipartisan negotiations in the Senate were boosted by an ultimatum in the fall from Republicans, who threatened to withhold support for a bill to send Ukraine a new infusion of U.S. aid unless the money was accompanied by tough U.S. border enforcement measures States.

They followed through on the threat in December, blocking an emergency national security package requested by Mr. Biden that included tens of billions in aid to Ukraine, funding for Israel's war effort in Gaza, humanitarian aid to Palestinians and security measures to curb Chinese influence to counteract. in the Indo-Pacific region.

Mr. Biden included $13.6 billion for border security in his request, an indication that he and Democrats in Congress saw the situation at the border as a potential political burden in an election year. In the weeks that followed, their willingness to negotiate with Republicans on major policy changes to address unauthorized border crossings reflected a growing sense within the party of an unsustainable status quo, with a record influx of migrants arriving in the United States without visas and the resulting crowds at shelters across the country.

Right-wing Republicans have rushed to capitalize on public dissatisfaction with Biden's handling of the border, and many have argued that they should not support any immigration legislation that could allow the president or Democrats to take credit for addressing the issue.

They also took aim at some provisions of the compromise that would streamline the process for migrants seeking to enter the United States.

The bill would raise the bar for migrants who claim they have a “credible fear” of persecution if they return to their home countries, and would create a new voluntary repatriation program for the government to fly migrants home on commercial airlines. But it would also stipulate that migrants who can claim credible fear would be released to live and work in the country, and that immigration officials on the ground could grant asylum status to migrants who present particularly compelling cases. The bill also creates a review committee to hear any appeals against the decisions, with the aim of making final asylum decisions within six months.

It also includes a measure to provide a government-funded lawyer to unaccompanied children aged 13 or younger, and to give any migrant placed in expedited removal proceedings 72 hours to find a lawyer who can contest the deportation.

The bill would create 50,000 new green card-eligible visas per year for five years, with 32,000 for families and 18,000 for work-related visas. Additionally, it ensures that the children of H-1B visa holders do not lose their right to a green card once they become adults, and creates a new temporary visa category to allow non-citizens to visit U.S.-based family.

The bill also includes a version of the Afghan Adjustment Act, which would create a path to citizenship for Afghans who fled to the United States after the Taliban took power.

Mr. Johnson and other Republicans in the House of Representatives have repeatedly said they will accept a border compromise only if it includes — or at least substantially mirrors — a severely restrictive bill they passed last spring. That legislation would revive a series of Trump-era policies, including requiring migrants who don't fit into U.S. detention centers to wait for their immigration court appointments in Mexico, and ending most programs that allow nationals of war-torn and economically devastated countries to temporarily live and work in the United States.

Republican lawmakers have also demanded a limit on the Biden administration's ability to parole such migrants. The compromise has no such restrictions and does not end group-based parole programs.

Supporters argue that their compromise will nevertheless have a tangible impact on border crossings by expanding the government's ability to detain and process migrants and eliminating the need for equal paroles.

Hamed Aleaziz reporting contributed.

A bipartisan quartet of senators, led by two Democrats from the critical swing state of Georgia, is asking President Biden to raise tariffs on Chinese solar panels or face an oversaturated market, just as the president's clean energy tax credits come to fruition. come to market.

“We must not allow China to destroy American manufacturing and control this strategic energy sector,” reads a new letter to Mr. Biden, led by Senator Jon Ossoff of Georgia and co-signed by Senator Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who is in a difficult situation. re-election battle, as well as Senator Marco Rubio, Republican of Florida, and Senator Raphael Warnock, Democrat of Georgia. “We urge you to increase and enforce tariffs on these Chinese solar products, which threaten the U.S. economy and energy security.”

The issue goes to the heart of one of Mr. Biden's arguments for re-election: that his economic policies have begun to transform the U.S. energy economy while combating climate change. Georgia has benefited from generous tax policies that have led to massive investments in new solar panels and battery factories for electric vehicles.

But Chinese government policies have kept pace with even greater industrial subsidies, driving down the cost of Chinese solar panels and leaving the U.S. industry in its infancy, a potential political threat to Mr. Biden as he makes his re-election bid.

The Biden administration did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The solar industry is divided over how strict tariffs should be on solar panel components from China and Chinese subsidiaries in other countries. Some panel makers have warned that U.S. factories announced by the industry and touted by Mr. Biden could be delayed or suspended because of Chinese competition. But companies that use the cheap imported components from China and its subsidiaries elsewhere have been more cautious.

The senators, no doubt considering their own political future, are putting their fingers on the scale.

“China's aggressive subsidies for its own solar industry demonstrate its intent to control the industry globally,” they wrote. “By 2026, China will have sufficient capacity to meet annual global demand for the next decade. This capacity poses an existential threat to the U.S. solar industry and U.S. energy security.”